CyberPower intros Gamer Xtreme XI system

CyberPower has just introduced the Gamer Xtreme XI, an Intel Core 2 Extreme based system designed with gaming and performance computing in mind. The Gamer Xtreme XI combines a factory overclocked Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770 quad-core processor running at an impressive 4.0GHz, with a pair of powerful Nvidia GeForce GTX 280 cards featuring SLI and PhysX support.

CyberPower claims their system can handle even the most graphically intense computer games, but as you might expect it also carries an obscenely high price tag. Starting at $4939, this beast features 4GB of Corsair’s DDR3 PC1333 Dual Channel memory, twin 500 GB SATA II 7200 RPM hard drives in a RAID-0 configuration and a LG Blu-ray / HD-DVD optical drive, all this enclosed in an NZXT Khaos full tower case – which offers no extraordinary features and at $400 is just a poor choice (read our review) for an already expensive gaming rig. For an already generous price tag, they could have done better in that aspect.

The CyberPower Gamer Xtreme XI should go head to head with the likes of the HP Blackbird 002 and Alienware Area-51 ALX and can be ordered now (and further customized) at CyberPower’s website.

Microsoft to unveil Windows Cloud OS this month

Speaking at an event in London, Microsoft’s chief executive officer, Steve Ballmer, has revealed that the company will let loose a new operating system, provisionally named Windows Cloud, at their professional developer conference later this month.

Microsoft has been long expected to unveil a cloud-based platform, and there’s been much speculation on whether the company will just launch a hosted version of Microsoft’s software or a new Windows operating system. If we are to take Ballmer’s comments literally, however, this probably isn’t something you would just run on your desktop but rather some sort of Windows Server built to manage the needs of services in the cloud.

Ballmer also dismissed the idea of creating a Google Docs rival, suggesting there simply wasn’t any value in it, but admitted the company was looking to bolster the online component of its Office suite. Further details about “Windows Cloud” remain scarce at the moment, but with Microsoft also expected to discuss Windows 7 at PDC, this is shaping up to be quite an interesting event. We’ll post more information as it becomes available, stay tuned.

Wii HD in development?

What are Nintendo’s plans for the Wii in the near future? A new console, perhaps, after rumors and hints of what they have in store to succeed the Wii. Precious little in terms of details has been offered up from Nintendo, so much of what people know is speculation, but it seems that Nintendo is planning a Wii successor called the Wii HD. It is not a refresh of the existing hardware, but rather a redesign – and as the name suggests, the console will support high definition content.

One statement was made that compared this next-generation Wii to the Game Boy being succeeded by the Game Boy Advance. If so, the “Wii HD” might get a massive hardware upgrade.That direction is somewhat different than what Nintendo has taken in the past. Since the release of the Wii, they have claimed that hardware isn’t everything – and they were proven right with the tremendous success of the console.

The new console, if indeed on track, is estimated for a release in 2011.

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic seriously challenges the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic seriously challenges the iPhone

Apple wants to sell 10 million iPhones this year. That is quite an ambitious goal, but well in the company’s reach thanks to its enormous success. It was this same success that ignited an industry frenzy and now we have a load of handset manufacturer after a piece of the action. Nokia is not the exception. Their new Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, as it name suggest has been designed to also work as multimedia player.

But is capabilities are not limited to playing music, as any iPhone rival, this phone has a GPS system, Wi-Fi connection, 8GB of internal memory, web browser, and of course a 3.2” touchscreen. Although there are many similarities, Nokia has tried to take a couple of things a step further. For example, the Nokia 5800 will be sold unlocked and not tied to a contract for 279 EUR, it ‘Comes with Music’ which means you can download content from the Nokia Music Store for free, its web browser has support for Flash, you can expand its storage through 16GB SD memory cards, and it has a 3.2-megapixel camera with LED flash and Carl Zeiss lens.

Apple might have its hands full with this one, but let’s not forget the iPhone has a clear head start, developers are already very interested in their platform, and the marketing machine led by Steve Jobs is probably working on a counterattack already. By that same token, Nokia has a well establish brand in the mobile market and sells over 500 million phones a year, 100 million of which are smartphones.

Apple threatens to shut down iTunes over royalty hike

A new chapter in the face-off between Apple and the music industry has begun. The Copyright Royalty Board is expected to rule Thursday on a request from music publishers to increase royalty rates on songs bought from online music stores such as iTunes by 66% percent, from 9 cents a track to 15 cents. Such a rise would have to be paid by either Apple or the consumer.

Apple, of course, doesn’t like the sound of this and has threatened to shut down the iTunes music store. The company argues that an increase in the royalty rate would force them to either eat the loss or raise prices, neither of which are attractive options for them. Absorbing the higher royalty costs would eat into their margins (and, according to Apple, result in the store operating at a financial loss), but passing the raise to consumers could cause a drop in sales.

Apple charges 99 cents per track, of which 70 cents go to the record company which then passes on the royalties. But with record company revenues falling by the year, they want Apple to cover the increased royalties rather than absorb the extra cost themselves.

Apple doesn’t seem willing to make a compromise here, so we’ll just have to wait and see where this goes. In any case, it is highly unlikely that Apple would actually shut down the country’s largest music store, and the music industry isn’t going to risk losing its largest distributor either.

RivaTuner v2.11

RivaTuner is a complete powerful tweaking environment, providing you everything you may need to tune NVIDIA GPU based display adapters. The widest driver-level Direct3D / OpenGL and system tuning options, flexible profiling system allowing to make custom settings on per-application basis, both driver-level and low-level hardware access modes, unique diagnostic and real-time hardware monitoring features and exclusive power user oriented tools like built-in registry editor and patch script engine make RivaTuner’s feature set absolutely unmatched. RivaTuner supports all NVIDIA display adapters starting from Riva TNT family up to the latest GeForce series and widest range of NVIDIA drivers starting from the oldest Detonator 2.08 up to the newest ForceWare drivers family. In addition to complete NVIDIA hardware support, RivaTuner also provides support for display adapters based upon newer ATI graphics processors. All RivaTuner’s features besides driver-level tuning options are also available on supported ATI hardware.

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